


Meow meow meow

by rydia



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cats, F/M, Felileth Week, Fluff, Post-Time Skip, explicit hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25216729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rydia/pseuds/rydia
Summary: “You named the kittens after swords?”Felix likes cats and swords. So does Byleth.Felileth week day 1: cats.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 30
Kudos: 132





	Meow meow meow

“Felix.” Sylvain is cheerful as he greets him, dropping into a seat opposite him in the dining hall. His plate of two-fish saute clinks loudly as he places it on the table.

Busy brooding and eating his own meal – the same as Sylvain’s – Felix only grunts in reply, not in the mood for chatting.

Of course, that’s never stopped Sylvain before.

“Any reason why you aren’t sitting with the Professor and his Highness?” Sylvain asks, turning his head to glance across the room to see if Byleth and Dimitri are still there. They are, talking quietly as they eat. When he turns back to Felix, he’s surprised to see him looking in their direction with a very disgruntled expression on his face.

“What’s with that look?” Sylvain asks, careful to be casual.

The Look transfers to Sylvain and intensifies. It's a good thing he's become immune to it over the years. “What look?”

“The look that says you’re annoyed with Dimitri.”

“I’m not," is Felix's impatient reply.

“Oh? Are you annoyed with the Professor?”

“Of course not,” Felix snaps. “I just don’t understand why she’s sitting with him.”

“I don’t get it,” Sylvain responds, frowning. “I thought things were better between you and Dimitri.”

Better is one way of putting it, at least. Felix’s father is still dead, and it weighs on both him and Dimitri heavily. But Sylvain can see Felix making an effort, in his own way, just as Dimitri is. Liberating Fhirdiad and turning the tide of the war has helped, he knows. It’s made Felix realise that Dimitri means what he’s saying. But it’s still delicate. Dedue had said something very profound the other day about their roots being deep but needing care right now, because they're fragile.

Felix pushes his fish around the plate, eyes darting up briefly to where Dimitri and Byleth sit, and Sylvain lights up, delighted understanding cresting over him like the breaking sun.

“ _Oh_ , are you jealous?” He has to hold back a laugh, because that’s adorable. “You know you can just go sit with them. Dimitri would be happy about it, and since you spend all your time training with the Professor anyway, I’m assuming she doesn’t object to your company.”

It’s the last part of that sentence that makes Felix flush, confirming Sylvain’s suspicion about who his jealousy is directed that. He hopes Felix doesn’t let this get in the way of rebuilding his friendship with Dimitri.

“I am not jealous,” Felix hisses, stabbing some fish with his fork with far more aggression that it requires.

“The Professor caught those fish, you know. You could treat them nicer. Did you know she loves fishing? Does it whenever she has some downtime.”

Felix glowers. “I know that, you idiot,” he mumbles through a mouthful of fish.

“That’s disgusting,” Sylvain responds mildly, and _almost_ makes a joke about how Felix was raised, catching himself just in time before he can remind Felix of his recently dead father.

Felix swallows. “ _You’re_ disgusting.”

Sylvain ignores that comment, as he always does when Felix says such things. “If you need help wooing the Professor–“

Scowling, Felix covers his eyes with a hand. “Shut up.”

“I’m sure she and His Highness are just friends –“

The hand slams on the table, rattling the cutlery. “ _Shut up_.”

“I’m just saying,” Sylvain finishes.

“You’re always _just saying,_ and you’re always full of shit. Talk about something useful for once.”

“Swords,” Sylvain responds promptly, feeling a little guilty for winding Felix up when he’s clearly more bothered about this then he’d expected. He must really like the Professor, and Sylvain has has to repress a smile again, because he probably started liking her precisely _because_ she’s so good with swords.

Felix takes a moment to respond, regarding Sylvain with some skepticism. “Swords? You want to talk about swords?”

“Sure. You like swords, don’t you?” Understatement of the century, really.

Felix’s eyebrows raise, but he remains suspicious. “I like swords,” he says slowly, obviously wondering what Sylvain’s angle is.

“Doesn’t the Professor also like swords?” He ignores Felix’s groan. “Didn’t you give her that really nice sword of Zoltan? Was that like a marriage proposal?”

Felix stands up so fast he nearly knocks over his chair. Just as he’s going to say something no doubt _extremely_ cutting, Sylvain sees his eyes drift over to where the Professor and Dimitri are sitting and a flush crosses his face. Without another word, he turns and leaves the dining hall, face like thunder.

Sylvain twists in his chair, and sees both the Professor and Dimitri watching Felix leave. With a little laugh, he takes his plate along with the one Felix left behind and goes to join them.

“Sylvain,” Dimitri rumbles, a note of disapproval in his voice. “What did you say to Felix?”

“Oh, nothing bad, your Highness, I was just trying to speak to him on matters on the heart. Here, Professor, do you want his leftovers?”

“Yes,” Byleth says immediately, scooping the food on Felix’s plate onto her own, which is already generously heaped. Before she takes another mouthful, she continues on, mildly, “I’m sure Felix hated that.”

Dimitri chuckles. “Felix has long grown tired of hearing of your escapades, Sylvain.”

Sylvain places a hand over his heart in mock offence. “ _My_ escapades? Your Highness, you have it all wrong. We were talking about matters of _Felix’s_ heart.”

Both Byleth and Dimitri stare at him, and Sylvain takes a mouthful of fish, enjoying their expressions. “Isn’t it sweet? Our Felix is in love.” He watches them both carefully. Dimitri continues looking on at Sylvain with a mix of interest but also disapproval at his gossiping, while Byleth’s eyes return to her plate as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. No blush, though, but Sylvain has to remember that not everyone blushes as easily as Felix.

“You train with him a lot, Professor. Has he ever mentioned anything?”

Her big green eyes raise back to his face, and Sylvain has figured enough out about her by now to know that she’s annoyed. “No,” is her short answer before she returns to her food.

Her response seems to be enough to push Dimitri into outward disapproval. “Felix wouldn’t like you talking about this, Sylvain.”

“Fine, fine,” Sylvain shrugs, and turns the conversation onto another topic, still enjoying the novelty of having Dimitri back. _Really_ back.

The Professor is mostly quiet as he and Dimitri talk. Despite her heaped plate, she finishes her food first, eating as quick as Ingrid does, and she leaves the dining hall with a quiet goodnight to them both.

Sylvain watches her, and waits until Dimitri takes a drink of water before saying, “Your Highness, I’m pretty sure Felix and the Professor are fucking.”

He feels a little guilty when Dimitri chokes on his drink in surprise.

.

After storming out of the dining hall, irritated both with Sylvain’s wheedling and with himself for still getting riled up by it, Felix heads in the direction of the stables. Behind them is a rarely used alleyway that he turns into. He slows his steps so as not to alarm the little family he knows is living in the area.

The alley is silent, and Felix glances behind himself, making sure he's alone. But it’s quiet at this time, with everyone else either finishing their meals or retiring to their rooms, and no one is likely to bother him.

“ _Pspspspsps_ ,” he calls out in a low voice, and waits.

It doesn’t take them long to appear, with Thoron trotting out from behind some crates first, closely followed by her three kittens.

She winds around his legs, purring loudly, while the kittens – still awkward and clumsy on their short, little legs – give their high pitched meows. Carefully, Felix slides to the ground, resting his back against the stone wall and stretching his legs out, watching the kittens try to climb and tumble over them.

Thoron headbutts his hand. “Sorry,” he murmurs. “I don’t have anything, but I’ll bring you breakfast.” He feels a bit guilty, because he’d meant to save some of his fish for her.

She gives a cranky sounding _mrow_ like she understands, but keeps on headbutting his hand and rubbing her cheeks against him.

“You know,” Felix says, because she always seems to like it when he talks to her. “You’re the best thing to come out of Gautier.” Her tail twitches, big green eyes staring unblinkingly at his face, and he smiles, scratching under her chin.

He had first encountered the Guatieron cat not long after they’d returned to the monastery. She’d been skinny and underfed, and obviously not really able to fend for herself. Felix had named her Thoron after his favourite spell and started bringing her food, and he became used to finding her outside the dining hall or at the bottom of the steps to the dormitories, waiting for him. He’d been alarmed a few weeks ago when she’d disappeared for a few days, and searched the monastery until he’d found her here, with a litter of kittens.

It had been a surprise, because Felix had assumed she was a boy.

One of the kittens who has managed to climb onto his thigh falls off with an affronted, tiny meow. With a laugh, Felix gently picks it up, and lets Thoron sniff it until she’s satisfied it’s okay, before he places it back on the ground with the other kittens.

For a while, he sits there, petting Thoron and watching the kittens, occasionally murmuring nonsense that makes Thoron respond with renewed purring. He knows she’s asking for the food he usually has, and he considers swallowing his pride to return to the dining hall to get her some.

Thoron picks up the person approaching before he does, her head swivelling towards the entrance of the alley, ears flickering. Felix’s gaze follows suit, and he hopes it’s someone who’ll just keep on walking and not notice he’s in here.

He tenses as the footsteps come into earshot, not wanting to unceremoniously dump all the cats off him to hide what he’s doing.

The person stops at the entrance of the alley, but Felix relaxes slightly when he sees who it is, despite some lingering embarrassment. Thoron remains tense.

“Can I come over?” Byleth calls softly.

“Yes,” Felix answers. “Slowly.”

She does so, keeping her movements slow and gentle until she reaches Felix and carefully sits down beside him, brushing against him. Thoron doesn’t relax until she stops moving, but the kittens immediately bumble their way over to her, curious to sniff and paw at the fabric of her tights.

They sit in a beat of silence for a moment.

“Do they have names?” Byleth eventually asks, reaching her hand out for Thoron to sniff. It’s not the first time they’ve met, but the process of learning trust is ongoing.

They do, but Felix has a flicker of self-consciousness about saying them out loud. Byleth shifts, closer, and her leg stretches out beside his, pressing against him.

“Yes,” he finally says and then, with a note of warning, “Don’t laugh.”

Now petting Thoron, who is again purring loudly, Byleth regards him with wide eyes. “I wouldn’t.”

“Okay. You know Thoron,” he says, nodding at the mother cat. Then, gently, Felix picks up each kitten in turn. He starts with the white and grey one that had tumbled off his leg. “Shamshir.” He places it back down on the leg that’s pressed against Byleth. Next he takes the black and white one that looks exactly like its mother. “Levin.” Levin is also placed on his leg, beside Shamshir who is already moving to explore Byleth’s calf. “And Astra.” The last kitten is all back, and lets out an indignant squeak at being picked up. Felix places it down with the other two, while Thoron checks each of them over, sniffing and licking.

“You named the kittens after swords?”

“Yes.” His response is terse, but he needn’t have worried, because Byleth smiles – one of those rare, wide smiles that he can't look away from.

She's looking down at the kittens trying to navigate the uneven landscape of their legs when she replies, “That’s cute.”

“It’s–“ His immediate response is to deny that. There’s nothing _cute_ about swords or about him. But as he watches Byleth pet and play with the tiny kittens, still smiling, he realises she’s probably right. Not that he’s going to admit it.

“Oh,” Byleth says after a moment. “I almost forgot. I brought food.” She reaches into the depths of her large overcoat, pulling a tied up handkerchief out of her pocket. Placing it on the ground, she spreads it out, and Felix can see that it contains some of the fish from the dining hall. Immediately, Thoron falls on the food, and the kittens gather around sniffing with interest, but they’re still too young to be eating anything but their mother’s milk.

“Thanks,” he replies. “I meant to bring some, but I forgot.”

Byleth turns to him, their shoulders brushing. “I thought you might have. You looked really angry with Sylvain.”

Gruffly, not wanting to talk about Sylvain, Felix replies, “It was nothing.” He keeps his eyes on the cats.

Byleth gives a little tiny laugh, and then reaches to take his hand in hers. He swallows, curling his fingers around her smaller ones.

“He came over to Dimitri and I after you left and mentioned your _love life_.”

Felix groans. “I hope you told him to shut up.”

“Dimitri did. More politely than that, though.”

“Oh. Well. Good.” He’s not sure whether to ask exactly what Sylvain had said, or to just let it go. But the curiosity gets the better of him. “Did he mean you?”

Her smile widens when he finally meets her gaze. “No. He just mentioned that you… liked someone.” She leans closer. “Did he mention me to _you_?”

Felix scowls, looking away. He can feel himself going red, and he knows Byleth has her answer without him needing to say anything.

“You did keep staring at me,” she says, still as mild as ever.

“ _You_ were staring at _me_ ,” he retorts.

“I suppose I was. I was disappointed you didn’t sit with us.”

He shifts, gaze dropped to their joined hands. “I didn’t want to disturb you and the boar.” He might be on better terms with Dimitri, especially since they’d retaken Fhirdiad, but… it’s hard to forget.

Her brow crinkles at the use of the name for Dimitri he still occasionally says, but she doesn’t comment on it. “You wouldn’t have. We were only talking about how to distribute battalions until Sylvain arrived.”

Felix doesn’t reply, just squeezes her hand, and they lapse into a comfortable silence. Byleth leans her head against his shoulder as they watch Thoron finish her meal and begin cleaning her face, while the kittens clamber over her and begin to get even noisier. Felix suspects they’ll be having their own dinner soon, too, knowing Thoron will go back to that hidden den she’s made at the back of the stables to safely feed them.

He thinks back to the dining hall. He didn’t go and sit with them partly because he doesn’t really know how to be around Byleth in public, not since the first time she’d kissed him, the night after they’d retaken Fhirdiad, and he’d realised his feelings for her weren’t one-sided. It’s easier like this, when they’re alone, or when they’re doing something – like sparring in the training grounds, even if someone else is around.

And even sparring with her, and being so close to her, has taken on a new edge as he lets himself entertain thoughts of touching her and liberties of getting closer to her that he never allowed himself to think about before. Not much, anyway.

They watch the cats in silence until Thoron stands up, and with a final check of the kittens, takes off back down the alley to where Felix knows there’s a hole in the wall that she disappears into. The kittens tumble after her, still meowing, probably knowing they’re going to have their meal soon.

Beside him, Byleth sighs.

He turns away from the cats to look at her. “What is it?”

“They’re so cute,” she responds, still watching the last of the kittens until it disappears around the back of a crate.

Felix can’t help but laugh. He remembers when Byleth had first come to the monastery, with her blank stare and ferocious reputation as the Ashen Demon. The last thing he’d thought he’d see would be her sighing over kittens.

“What?” She blinks at him. “They are.”

“They are,” he agrees, and the next words fall out of him impulsively. “So are you.”

The fact that Byleth is clearly pleased at that alleviates some of his embarrassment. The rest of it is chased away when she stretches up to press her lips against his. Felix smiles against her, angling himself to kiss her better, one of his hands still holding onto hers.

When they part, and Byleth goes to rest her head against his chest, Felix says, “Sylvain offered to help me woo you.”

“Woo me? What were his suggestions?” Byleth sounds curious.

“He didn’t give any, really, because he’s useless. He just suggested _swords_.”

“Well... I _do_ like swords.”

Felix can feel a smile curving across his face again. “I know you do.” He glances up, seeing that the sky is darkening, and nudges her before letting go and standing up. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where?” Byleth asks, taking his offered hand to help her up. Neither of them let go.

“Anywhere more comfortable than the ground,” he mutters.

She looks up at him from under her eyelashes. “My room?” At his blinking silence and growing flush, she adds, “if you want.”

Felix rolls his eyes, even while he blushes. She has no idea just how much he wants that. “Let’s go.” He leads her out of the alley and back towards the dormitories, passing by the few people still out this late in the evening.

One of those people is Sylvain. When he sees them, and their joined hands, his eyes go comically wide before he grins and gives Felix an obnoxious thumbs up. 

Felix ignores him completely, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

And not once does he let go of Byleth’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Fic titles are hard, don't judge me. 
> 
> And yes, all of the kittens are named after swords from the FE series, because Felix is a nerd.


End file.
